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Yankees Claim Jeisson Rosario From Red Sox

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The Yankees announced that outfielder Jeisson Rosario was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox.  Rosario has been optioned to the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate.

The 22-year-old Rosario was designated for assignment earlier this week when the Sox needed a 40-man roster space to accommodate Trevor Story.  Rosario began his career in the Padres farm system, and came to Boston as part of the August 2020 trade that saw Mitch Moreland dealt to San Diego.

Rosario has a .256/.366/.332 slash line over 1675 minor league plate appearances.  He hasn’t shown much power thus far, and his offensive contributions have mostly come in the form of on-base skills and speed (with 48 steals in 77 chances).  Rosario is considered a good defensive center fielder, however, and has also spent some time in right field and a handful of games as a left fielder.

Marwin Gonzalez Has Good Chance To Make Yankees' Opening Day Roster

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  • Veteran utilityman Marwin Gonzalez is in camp with the Yankees on a minor league deal, and manager Aaron Boone tells Dan Martin of the New York Post he hopes the switch-hitting Gonzalez will play his way into a roster spot, citing a desire for more versatility off his bench. “That’s something I think Tampa [Bay] has done a really good job of,” said Boone. “Their roster complements one another really well. I hope that’s the case with us.” Meanwhile, Newsday’s Erik Boland tweets that Gonzalez is “all but a lock” to make the Yankees’ roster despite having inked a minor league contract. The recent agreement to expand rosters to 28 players for the early portion of the season certainly can’t hurt Gonzalez’s chances. He’d earn a $1.15MM salary if he’s added to the big league roster.

Andrew Miller Announces Retirement

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Veteran reliever Andrew Miller is retiring after 16 Major League seasons, Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.  In a text to Goold, Miller looked back on his career and gave to those who helped him along the way:

“The list of people who took me aside, put their arm around me, made me laugh when I needed to, or taught me something is endless.  It’s safe to say I would have been faced with the next chapter much earlier on if it weren’t for them. As someone who thought their career was practically over in 2010, to be able to experience everything I did along the way is incredible.  You shouldn’t ever hear complaints from me.  It was a heck of a run.”

After being selected as the sixth overall pick of the 2006 draft, Miller was initially seen as a cornerstone piece of the Tigers’ future before he became part of one of the biggest trades in Detroit’s franchise history.  Miller was one of six players dealt from the Tigers to the Marlins in exchange for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in December 2007, though after three injury-plagued seasons in South Beach, the Marlins also parted ways with the left-hander.

Miller was dealt to the Red Sox in the 2010-11 offseason, and after more struggles in 2011, Miller became a full-time reliever in 2012 and essentially never looked back.  The southpaw became one of baseball’s top relief pitchers, working in a variety of different roles depending on his team’s needs.  Whether as a closer, set-up man, multi-inning workhorse, or lefty specialist, Miller became a valuable bullpen weapon in any capacity.

As flexible bullpens have become more and more prominent in recent years, it is also very easy to point to Miller as a trailblazer.  As Cardinals teammate Adam Wainwright simply put it, Miller “changed the game and he kind of took that relief role back to when it first started, guys who could do two, three innings – and he was the guy who did it in the postseason.”

From 2013-17, Miller was next to unhittable, posting a 1.82 ERA, 41.1% strikeout rate, and 7.4% walk rate over 291 2/3 innings with the Red Sox, Orioles, Yankees, and Indians.  That tremendous stretch saw Miller named to two AL All-Star teams, and receive top-10 Cy Young placements in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Miller received a World Series ring for his contributions to Boston’s 2013 championship team, even if injuries kept him participating in the postseason.  However, as Wainwright noted, Miller was at his best in baseball’s biggest spotlight.  Miller retires with a tiny 0.93 ERA over 38 2/3 innings in the playoffs, even winning 2016 ALCS MVP honors with Cleveland in 2016.  That particular season saw Miller help carry an injury-riddled Cleveland pitching staff to within an inch of a World Series, falling to the Cubs in extra innings in Game Seven.

“He kind of revolutionized all of it – your best pitcher doesn’t have to be your starter or your closer,” Cardinals pitching coach Mike Maddux said.  “And he was the best pitcher on multiple staffs.  What he did in the postseason to help his team was groundbreaking.  I don’t think anybody really duplicated what he’s done – as far as throwing multiple innings in the hairy innings, whenever they are.”

Miller’s success was reflected in his free agent value, as he landed a four-year, $36MM deal from the Yankees in the 2014-15 offseason.  Hitting the open market again following the 2018 campaign, Miller signed a two-year, $25MM contract with the Cardinals that became a three-year, $37MM pact when he pitched enough innings in 2020 to trigger a vesting option.

Injuries began to hamper Miller later in his career, and both his velocity and his overall performance took a step back over his three years in St. Louis.  Miller had only a 4.34 ERA over 103 2/3 regular-season innings in a Cards uniform, but again remained effective come October.  Over seven postseason games and 5 2/3 innings with the Cardinals, Miller didn’t allow a single run.

If anything, Miller drew even more respect from teammates and peers off the field, due to his work with the MLB Players Association.  A longtime team union rep and a member of the MLBPA executive board, Miller was one of the most prominent and outspoken voices representing the players’ causes both during his career, and particularly this offseason during the lockout.  While Miller will never himself play under the terms of the 2022-26 Collective Bargaining Agreement, it will stand as something of a legacy for his contributions to players both present and future.

“I have an appreciation for what he did for the entire game of baseball,” Wainwright said of Miller’s MLBPA work.  “As many hours as that guy put in for the union over these past few years is kind of staggering.  He may retire and that means this whole offseason he still spent 16 hours on the phone a day, for us, for who’s next – that means a lot.”

The 36-year-old Miller will retire with a career 4.03 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, 979 strikeouts, 10.6% walk rate, 63 saves, and 141 holds over his 829 innings with seven different Major League teams.  We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Miller on a great career, and we wish him all the best in retirement.

For the last word on Miller’s career, the lefty himself sums things up as part of his text message….

“I feel very fortunate that my career worked out the way that it did. Of course there were tough stretches, injuries, and times of doubt.  I also won’t deny that I can find myself in moments of wondering what if this or that had happened differently, could it have somehow been better?  I’m usually pretty quick to be able to step back though and see how lucky I have been.  The hard times were necessary for me to grow and to be able to appreciate the highs along the way.  Ultimately, I was able to play for many great franchises, wear historic uniforms, and play in some amazing ballparks.  I made some of the best friends I will ever have in life through the game.  I was able to work with the union and see the good it can do for players while learning so much about the game.”

31 Players On Track For Arbitration Hearings

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201 arbitration eligible players have reached agreements with their teams on a 2022 salary, most of which occurred just prior to Tuesday’s filing deadline.

According to Jake Seiner of The Associated Press, 31 arbitration eligible players remain unsigned and are on track for hearings.  Due to the lockout, the hearings are expected to take place during the season if agreements are not reached.  The full list of unsigned players, which includes Aaron Judge, Willson Contreras, and Dansby Swanson, can be found in our tracker.  Judge, having submitted a $21MM figure against the Yankees’ $17MM submission, represents the largest gap at $4MM.

All the other gaps are less than $2MM, and the smallest is the $200K separating Lucas Giolito and the White Sox.  Yesterday, Giolito told reporters that the sides were only $50K apart prior to filing, which the righty described as “very unfortunate, disheartening.”

The Braves have five of the 31 cases, with Swanson, Adam Duvall, Luke Jackson, Max Fried, and Austin Riley.  Six of the 31 players were traded this offseason: Jesse Winker, Adam Frazier, Gary Sanchez, Chris Bassitt, and Jacob Stallings.

A look at the number of hearings by year in the last decade:

  • 2021: 8
  • 2020: 12
  • 2019: 10
  • 2018: 22
    2017: 15
  • 2016: 4
  • 2015: 14
  • 2014: 3
  • 2013: 0
  • 2012: 7

Multiyear deals are always an option, and we record those in our extension tracker.

White Sox Place Jonathan Stiever On 60-Day IL, Claim Yoan Aybar

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The White Sox have placed right-hander Jonathan Stiever on the 60-day injured list, the team announced.  Chicago also claimed southpaw Yoan Aybar off waivers from the Yankees, just days after the Yankees themselves claimed Aybar off waivers from the Rockies.

Aybar’s velocity and strikeout potential got him as high as the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate last season, though he is still very much a work in progress as a pitcher, after converting to the mound from the outfield prior to the 2018 season.  As a hurler, Aybar has a 5.06 ERA and a 14.62% walk rate over 131 2/3 minor league innings, with a 24.9% strikeout rate.

The White Sox don’t have much left-handed depth in their bullpen beyond Aaron Bummer and Garrett Crochet, and the team has made a point of adding several southpaws to their Spring Training camp as non-roster invitees.  Aybar probably isn’t likely to be on the radar for a big league promotion, but he’ll add more depth in the minors and perhaps serve as a project.

Stiever underwent lat surgery back in August and was initially expected to be ready for Spring Training, though the 60-day IL placement gives him more time to get fully healthy.  Stiever was a fifth-round pick for the White Sox in the 2018 draft, and he has already gotten a brief taste of the majors, albeit in the form of three games and 6 1/3 innings over the last two seasons.  Over 247 IP in Chicago’s farm system, Stiever has a 4.26 ERA and 26.86% strikeout rate, starting all 56 of his games.  Once fully recovered, Stiever projects as a depth starter or potential bullpen long man for the Sox later in the season.

New York City Reportedly Set To Lift Vaccination Requirement For Professional Athletes

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New York City mayor Eric Adams will announce tomorrow that the municipality’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement for professional athletes will be lifted, according to a report from Sally Goldenberg of Politico. The news means that unvaccinated players on the Yankees and Mets — who were previously prohibited from playing in home games — will no longer be blocked from playing at Yankee Stadium or Citi Field, write Adrian Wojnarowski and Jeff Passan of ESPN.

ESPN writes that MLB officials had been in contact with the mayor’s office in recent days about the possibility of the Yankees and Mets being down some players for home games. League officials had maintained optimism the situation would eventually be resolved, but Wojnarowski and Passan report that the MLB Players Association had recently sent a memo to agents who represent players on those teams about the possible consequences they’d face for missing games on account of vaccination status.

As part of the new collective bargaining agreement, that includes lost service time and pay. That now only figures to be relevant in Toronto, as the Canadian government is preventing unvaccinated players from entering the country. That won’t have any impact on the Mets, but the Yankees are slated to play ten road games against the Blue Jays this season. Unvaccinated players are still prohibited from participating in those games and will be placed on the restricted list for those contests.

Blue Jays Have Shown Interest In Brett Gardner

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The Blue Jays have reached out to show some interest in veteran outfielder Brett Gardner, tweets Newsday’s Erik Boland, although Boland adds that the 38-year-old Gardner is still hoping that the Yankees will make an offer for him to return. Joel Sherman of the New York Post hears similarly, writing that the Jays have checked in on Gardner but some clubs wonder whether he’d actually sign with a team other than the Yankees, given the history between the two parties.

Gardner hit .222/.327/.362 with 10 homers, 16 doubles and four triples while playing more center field than the Yankees probably would have hoped in 2021. Aaron Hicks’ injuries, however, pushed Gardner into a prominent share of time in center, where he logged 816 innings. That was just the second time since 2015 that Gardner had played even 40 games in center, and to his credit, he rated only a bit below average there. For a 38-year-old who’s become more accustomed to left field, it was about as solid a showing as could be expected.

Interest from the Jays makes some sense, given that their roster is exceptionally right-handed. Gardner hit just .213 against righties in 2021, but part of that was due to an abnormally low .243 average on balls in play against them. He walked in 13.9% of his plate appearances versus right-handed pitching against a 20.2% strikeout rate that clocks in below the league average.

Gardner is far from the hitter he once was, when he batted a combined .257/.338/.413 with 109 homers and 130 steals in 1024 games with the Yankees from 2013-19. With the Jays, however, he’d be viewed as a part-time player — a lefty bat off the bench whose primary role would be to offer some occasional breathers or injury insurance for right-handed outfield options like Lourdes Gurriel Jr., George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez and Randal Grichuk. He’d presumably be attainable on a one-year contract, but it’d be understandable if Gardner felt somewhat conflicted about leaving the only team he’s known after 14 big league seasons and 17 professional campaigns, dating back to his selection in the third round of the 2005 draft.

Yankees Avoid Arbitration With Joey Gallo

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The Yankees announced this afternoon they’ve agreed to terms with 11 of their 12 arbitration-eligible players. Among them is All-Star outfielder Joey Gallo, whom Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports (Twitter link) settled for $10.275MM.

That’s right in line with the $10.2MM projection of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. Gallo will avoid a hearing during his final trip through the process, as he’s slated to hit free agency at the end of the season. The 28-year-old bounced back from a rough showing in the 2020 shortened campaign to hit .223/.379/.490 through last season’s first few months in Texas. Upon being dealt to the Yankees, however, he slumped to a .160/.303/.404 mark.

If he can regain his first-half form in the Bronx, Gallo would line up as one of the top players in next year’s free agent class. Teammate Aaron Judge will likely be even more coveted, though — if he makes it to the open market. Judge is going through arbitration for a final time this offseason, and the Yankees have maintained they’ll soon initiate extension talks with the three-time All-Star.

They’ll do so with some uncertainty about how much money Judge will make in 2022, however. He was the only of the Yankees’ arb-eligible players not to come to terms with the team today. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reports (Twitter link) that Judge filed for a $21MM salary while the team offered him $17MM. (Swartz’s $17.1MM projection came in much closer to the team’s filing figure than to the player’s). They didn’t close that gap, and it seems they could be headed for a hearing to determine his ultimate price point.

If Judge and the Yankees agree on a long-term deal in the coming weeks, that’ll prove moot. If they don’t, the 29-year-old’s salary for the upcoming season will likely be chosen by an arbitrator. If it goes to a hearing, the third-party would unilaterally set Judge’s salary at either his desired $21MM or the team’s offered $17MM, not at any sort of midpoint. The Yankees and Judge’s camp could continue to kick around a possible settlement until the hearing begins if they so desire.

Latest On Willson Contreras

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The Cubs have overhauled a good portion of their roster this winter. Among the most impactful moves was bringing in veteran backstop Yan Gomes — the top catcher in this year’s free agent crop — on a two-year deal prior to the lockout.

That has naturally led to some trade speculation regarding incumbent catcher Willson Contreras, who’s entering his final year of club control. There hasn’t been much firm indication the Cubs have shopped the 29-year-old this winter, but they’d also yet to open talks regarding a possible long-term extension with his representatives as of last week.

Speaking with Bruce Levine of 670 The Score over the weekend, an emotional Contreras acknowledged the possibility he could either be dealt or depart the organization via free agency next winter. “This is something that is really tough for me,” the two-time All-Star said. “Personally, the relationships I have with the team, players and fans, (leaving would) be something that will be really tough to take. This is something very emotional for me, knowing all that I have had to go through to get to this point. It’s going to be really tough and very emotional.”

Levine reports that the Yankees and Padres are among the teams that have checked in with the Cubs to gauge Contreras’ availability, although it’s not clear if any discussions are currently ongoing. Chicago certainly doesn’t have to trade the right-handed backstop, as the implementation of the universal designated hitter could allow manager David Ross to pencil both him and Gomes into the lineup on a regular basis. The Cubs’ fairly active offseason suggests they’re not punting the 2022 campaign entirely, and keeping both players would give the team enviable depth behind the dish and the opportunity to lengthen the overall lineup.

That said, one could argue that having Contreras and Gomes as a 1A/1B tandem between catcher and designated hitter isn’t an optimal deployment of those players. Both are good hitters for catchers, but neither has the kind of offensive track record that’d make them great fits as regular options at the DH spot. Contreras is the better offensive player of the duo, but even he falls a bit shy of the typical output expected from the bat-only position.

Contreras has been an above-average hitter by measure of wRC+ in each of his six career seasons. Going back to the start of 2020, he owns a .239/.345/.429 line, numbers that check in nine percentage points above the league average. That’s markedly better than the .230/.307/.392 figure put up by catchers around the league, but it’s not elite middle-of-the-order output overall. Most American League teams have increasingly preferred to cycle various regulars through the DH spot as quasi-rest days unless they have an excellent bat-only player to plug in. Just seven hitters tallied 300+ plate appearances as a DH last year; of that group, only Miguel Cabrera didn’t outhit Contreras.

While he might not be a great fit for semi-regular DH time, Contreras should hold plenty of appeal to catching-needy teams. The Yankees make an unsurprising possibility after trading away Gary Sánchez. New York is presently slated to roll with Kyle Higashioka and Ben Rortvedt behind the dish. That duo figures to be capable defensively but doesn’t seem likely to come close to Contreras’ production at the plate.

The Padres making a run would be more surprising, as San Diego already has something of a logjam at catcher. Contreras’ price tag could also prove problematic for the Friars. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for an $8.7MM salary in his final year of arbitration. That’d come with a matching luxury tax hit, and the Padres already have around $224MM in CBT commitments, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. Acquiring Contreras would push the Friars right up against or perhaps past the $230MM base tax threshold, and Dennis Lin of the Athletic wrote last week the club would prefer to not surpass the CBT marker for the second straight season.

Aside from Contreras, there don’t seem to be many options for teams looking to upgrade behind the plate before the start of the season. Almost all the free agent options at the position have been signed, and there aren’t any other teams who seem likely to make regulars available in trade. The A’s might entertain the possibility of moving Sean Murphy, but that seems unlikely since he has yet to even reach arbitration eligibility. The trade market may just consist of depth types like Reese McGuire and Jorge Alfaro if the Cubs elect to hold onto Contreras.

Yankees Claim Yoan Aybar From Rockies

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The Yankees have claimed left-hander Yoan Aybar off waivers, the team announced.  The Rockies designated Aybar for assignment two days ago, in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for Kris Bryant.

A longtime member of the Red Sox farm system, Aybar spent his first four pro seasons as an outfielder before converting to pitching in 2018.  He has a 5.06 ERA over 131 2/3 innings of minor league mound work, including a 6.22 ERA over 46 1/3 innings with the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate in 2021.  As one might expect for a player relatively new to pitching, control has been a particular issue for Aybar, as he has a 14.62% walk rate during his 131 2/3 IP.

Aybar does bring plenty of velocity, however, and the Yankees will now get a closer look at the 24-year-old to see if his stuff can be harnessed.  Double-A Somerset seems the likeliest destination for Aybar to begin the season, though the southpaw could potentially be headed back to DFA limbo if the Yankees make another roster move and need to make room on their own 40-man.

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